From 37.01 million in April 2013, the number of employed Filipinos rose to 38.66 million during the same period this year, or an increase of 1.65 million jobs nationwide.

This was reported Wednesday by Labour Secretary Rosalinda Baldoz, citing the April 2014 Labour Force Survey of the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

Barring any major setbacks, she expressed optimism the next PSA labour survey “will sustain the country’s robust employment situation.”“This optimism is anchored on the overall efforts and commitment of the government, including the Department of Labour and Employment, to implement programs, projects and services that facilitate employment and make the business climate conducive for job generation,” she said.

By worker class, new wage and salary workers topped the field with 909,000, followed by those who are self-employed without any paid employees, 329,000; and employers in family-operated businesses, 114,000, among others.

Of the 1.65 million newly employed Filipinos, some 929,000 came from the services sector, followed by 374,000 in the industry sector, and 352,000 in the agriculture sector.